Tuesday, June 22, 2010

As I was watching the latest True Blood episode (S3:26) this Sunday I was impressed by the creativity behind the sumptuous vampire meal made out of human blood: carbonated blood wine willingly donated by a human that ate tangerines all week, blood bisque with rose petals, and blood gelato.

I'm no vampire, but a meal out of willingly donated human blood would definitely pique my interest, and I wouldn't be surprised to find a chef who has experimented with the idea, especially with this trend of making dishes out of human bodily fluids (see post on human milk) Next thing you know, we'll be seeing human shirako (a.k.a. cod milt a.k.a. fish sperm), the difference of course being that there would be no shortage of supply no matter the season.

Back to thinking about blood. There are plenty of dishes that can be made out of it. We've documented a couple on this blog that we tried at Congee Village (100 Allen Street): congealed duck blood and the various pig's blood porridges.

However, much more can be done with blood than we could ever imagine! Cate Newton of phlebotomist.net documents recipes for 6 unique dishes from around the world in her post: blood milk (Kenya, Tanzania), blood pudding (Western Europe, Korea), blood tofu (China), blood soup (Sweden, Poland, Vietnam) - this is beginning to sound a bit like the vampire blood bisque, blood pancakes (Finland), and blood bread (Finland). Those Finns sure love their blood...

Blood pudding (a.k.a. blood sausage/boudin noir/Blutwurst/Morcilla/Soondae) is actually one of my favorite dishes. You can have some at Casimir (103 Avenue B) and plenty other French restaurants in New York.

The most creative and palatable of the 6 recipes Cate listed is probably blood pancakes (Veriohukaiset). Finally, a Finnish dish that's NOT boring! Moreover, if you want to have it the real authentic way, this one requires reindeer blood, which makes it ever more exciting than pig or duck. That's what I call a proper and delicious cure for anemia! If you're ever low on iron, you know what to get.

Unfortunately, the few Finnish restaurants that exist in New York don't serve this incredible delicacy, but you can always make it yourself. You can procure blood at butcher shops, most likely in Chinatown somewhere, and blood labs.Continue...